Police detain a demonstrator during a protest in Moscow near Russia's lower house of parliament, where lawmakers gave initial approval to a measure cracking down on gay rights.

Police detain a demonstrator during a protest in Moscow near Russia's lower house of parliament, where lawmakers gave initial approval to a measure cracking down on gay rights.

Photo: Mikhail Metzel, Associated Press

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Police officers detain one of the gay rights activists during their protest just outside the lower house of Russiaâ??s parliament, the State Duma, in Moscow, on January 25, 2013. Russia's parliament debated today a bill banning homosexual "propaganda" among minors that could lead to gays being fined for demonstrating or kissing in public. AFP PHOTO / ANDREY SMIRNOVANDREY SMIRNOV/AFP/Getty Images less

Police officers detain one of the gay rights activists during their protest just outside the lower house of Russiaâ??s parliament, the State Duma, in Moscow, on January 25, 2013. Russia's parliament debated ... more

Photo: Andrey Smirnov, AFP/Getty Images

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PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 19: Actor Michael B. Jordan poses for a portrait during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at Village at the Lift on January 19, 2013 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)

PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 19: Actor Michael B. Jordan poses for a portrait during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at Village at the Lift on January 19, 2013 in Park City,

The lower house of Russia's parliament on Friday approved in the first reading a controversial measure against the spread among minors of "propaganda" seen as supporting homosexuality.

But the lawmakers put off until the next reading a central question: What constitutes propaganda?

The first hearing of the bill was preceded by two days of sporadic clashes over the issue between gay activists and militant Orthodox Christian activists in front of the State Duma, the lower house. Police intervened Friday, detaining about 20 people from both sides when the conflict deteriorated to fistfights.

An issue facing lawmakers Friday was defining what represents propaganda, a task they will tackle before the second of three readings, expected sometime in spring.

The nationalist Liberal Democratic Party faction refused to take part in the vote, arguing that discussion, passage and enforcement of the law would only serve to bring further attention to homosexuality.

Voting on the bill "is in itself a form of (such) propaganda," said party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. "When they are fined every day, we will hear homosexuality, homosexuality. It is a provocation ... (our party) will not take part in."

But gay activists said the law, if passed, would turn gays and lesbians into second-class citizens and leave Russia lagging behind more progressive nations in its policies.

"This law insults me as a gay person and my same-sex family too," Yelena Kostyuchenko, an activist and reporter with Novaya Gazeta, said in an interview. "I won't be able to talk freely on the topic, and I won't be able to write on the topic either without exposing my paper to ridiculously huge fines.

"The law reduces me and millions of gays in Russia to the hidden life of speechless beings deprived of a right to even publicly hold hands or kiss each other," she added.

Kostyuchenko said that given the absence of a figure like Harvey Milk, the San Francisco supervisor and gay activist who was slain in 1978, Russia's gay community is not yet strong enough to stand up for its interests in the face of threats.

The recent polls conducted by the independent Levada polling agency indicate that about 80 percent of respondents were against officially sanctioned same-sex marriages and public gay pride parades.

However, about 57 percent of the respondents said they were against legal prosecution of homosexuals, and only 22 percent spoke firmly in favor of such measure.